Arrondissement de Dinant

We had a pretty good nights sleep considering we were on the edge of the city in a run down car park. Most of the cars left by 11pm and we were left with 4 camper vans and one other Moho.
At 8am we were drinking tea and coffee in bed waiting for the traffic in and out of the city to calm down, it was horrendous and considering it was so quiet last night the traffic never really let up.
Just after 9am we set off back to Belgium, it took us just 10 minutes to cross the border and then another 10 miles to reach a Motorhome aire to empty our grey and black waste and fill up with fresh water. It was a nightmare to reach the aire as they were doing roadworks and the route we wanted was closed. With no diversion in place we followed a van and TomTom was trying to re-route us, then the van did a U-turn and as we went on, the roads got tighter and tighter.
I was looking for escape route out of this tiny town and then we found the aire. Fortunately after filling up with water getting back onto the main road was easier.
Our next stop was Lidl just outside Liège to get some fruit, nuts and milk. We also stopped here for lunch at the bakery.
Our first stop of the day was The Invisible Church, a sculpture made of Iron and see through just outside the village of Boson, replicating the towns church. It was an amazing looking piece of artwork that was a 1 mile hike from our parking spot in the middle of nowhere off a hiking and biking path.
Back at Wanda we set the Sat Nav and then set off leaving the Invisible Church behind us for an 85 mile trek, our longest drive since getting off of the euro tunnel. We were heading to Dinant at the bottom of Belgium in Wallonia. I had seen this place on the TV watching the bike racing during the tour of Wallonia and it looked amazing.
Unfortunately for us, on route we realised that the free parking spot I had found just outside of the city was being closed for overnight parking so we had to find somewhere else and we found the perfect spot a few miles away next to a little chateau, but it’s still about 6 miles away from the city so we won’t be able to walk in.
We decided to head straight to the chateau and skip Dinant for today and drive in tomorrow and find a day parking spot and we arrived just after 3pm, it is a beautiful spot with a great view but no internet so we’ll have to be on DVD’s tonight.
At 4pm I decided to go for a bike ride and I already had a looped circuit in my head unit so I set that, got changed and then set off. Within 500 meters I came to my first climb of 3 and it was a brutal 10% gradient, lasting just 700 meters then I was on to flat ground for 1km and just as I had got my breath back the second climb came. This one was a real leg zapper starting at 3% and rising to 8% but last 1.5 kilometres. I was just under 3km in and I was already feeling exhausted.
I started to head into some small but very beautiful villages, and that was what this route was all about, the churches in these villages.
I passed some amazing churches, some dating back to the 16th century. I also passed some amazing Chateaus before descending out of the villages doing 60kph and then picking up the cycle path into Dinant.
Cycling along the river I had the most amazing view of the city before passing over the saxophone bridge and along the river the opposite side. Dinant was the birthplace Of Adolf Sax, the inventor of the saxophone and there are sculptures of saxophones everywhere.
Leaving the city I turned left and headed back into the wooded back lanes this is where I found the 3rd climb but luckily I had almost fully recovered. This climb was a brute starting at 7% and topping out at 13% over a 1km distance. It might not seem like it but from the bike it looked like a wall.
Over the climb I was onto hilly terrain and kept a steady speed of 25kph all the way back until descending the final hill, the final kilometre was all downhill at 8% and with nothing behind and an open clear road ahead of me I took the racing line around the last 2 bends topping out at 64kph before coming back to Wanda. I had travelled 32.5km and done 510 meters of climbing in 90 minutes. I was pretty knackered but it was a great ride and luckily for me Ellie had already made dinner of meatballs and pasta and I was starving. Then we watched the sunset behind the chateau before heading in for the night and putting on a DVD.Read more